Swedes head for Valencia

Victory Challenge decamp

Swedish Challenge’s America ’s Cup yacht Örn (SWE-63) was loaded onto a freighter today in the harbour of the idyllic town of Lysekil, north of Gothenburg. Within a week, Örn will arrive at the America ’s Cup harbour in Spain. One week after that, she'll be in the water.

Örn has undergone rebuilding over the last few months to meet the new class rules that apply for the 32nd America 's Cup.

Since she last raced in Auckland Örn has been 'turbocharged' to version 5 of the America's Cup Class rule, creating a yacht with more sail, a lighter weight and a deeper keel but with the same stability as before.

Victory Challenge’s designer Mani Frers has been responsible for the design modifications to make it possible for Victory Challenge to take part in the compulsory Acts this summer: Valencia in June, Malmö in Sweden in August/September and Trapani on Sicily in September/October.

The rebuild has been supervised by Victory Challenge’s shore manager Sam Murch and took place in the same hall on the old shipyard Lindholmen in Gothenburg where Örn and Victory Challenge's second yacht Orm (SWE-73) were built prior to the last America ’s Cup.

The 20 ton bulb was loaded onto one truck and Örn herself onto another at Lindholmen early this morning. The transport including the necessary escort vehicles left Gothenburg just after 8am for the trip along the E6 towards Uddevalla and then Lysekil, one of the most popular holiday resorts on the Swedish west coast.

The 101m Norwegian freighter Lystind was waiting in the cold and rainy harbour. Örn and her bulb were lifted over by crane, as were the masts and containers that had arrived the day before.

Later today, Lystind left Lysekil destined for Dundee, Scotland, and then on to Bilbao, Spain. From Bilbao, Örn will be transported by road again with a final destination of Valencia where she’s expected by the end of next week. Then the Victory Challenge crew, under the supervision of sailing manager Magnus Holmberg will be in place - another week later, the America 's Cup yacht will be launched and training for the Acts can commence.

Victory Challenge won 11 matches in the last America ’s Cup - more than any other Swedish syndicate has done before. In the quarterfinals they knocked out the French syndicate Le Défi Areva. Victory Challenge finished in fifth place after being defeated by America 's Cup finalists from 2000, the Italian syndicate Prada, in the next round as they battled for a place in the semifinals.

The 32nd America ’s Cup will be decided in Valencia 2007. Victory Challenge has the support of, among others, two companies in the Stenbeck group from the previous challenge; the media company Modern Times Group and the Tele2 telecom group.

The intention is to form a syndicate sponsored by companies that see the possibilities offered by the world's most prestigious sailing competition being held in Europe for the first time since 1851. They will be invited to take part in a sponsorship extending over three years and can take advantage of the enormous media impact that will be guaranteed internationally and which will be amplified even further in the countries where the Stenbeck group is active.